It isn’t in what Moses prays. It’s in what he doesn’t pray that makes the difference. Do you pray like Moses from a heart of sacrificial love?

One of the truly amazing episodes in the Bible happened at Mt Sinai. Because Moses had delayed his return from the mountain, and the Children of Israel made themselves a golden calf to worship.

The next day, Moses is pleading with the Lord to show mercy to his people. There is a great mystery in what he says, but it isn’t in his what he says. It’s in what he doesn’t say. Moses says to God,

But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written (Ex 32:32, NIV).

Do you see the dash? It indicates a long pause. The thought is unfinished. It was an unfinished prayer. This shows the deepest emotion at this point.

But now, please forgive their sin—

Just think for a moment about happened during that silence that the dash represents. Did Moses choke up for a moment? Did he shed tears of grief for his people who had rejected the Lord who had done so much for them?

Moses’ heart was breaking as suddenly the possibility that the Lord might not have been able to forgive their sin filled his mind. For a moment, as he contemplated that possibility, there were no words.

And when he spoke again, Moses expressed the only thing that he could offer:

but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.

Moses’ prayer was an unfinished prayer that was perfectly finished by love.

This self-sacrificing love is why God pointed to Moses as being “like” the coming Messiah (Deut 18:15). In Moses’ silence, we see a foreshadowing of the silence of God as he offered himself, through the Son to save his people.

Like Moses at Sinai, Jesus at Calvary also asked God to forgive his people. He said,

Father, forgiven them… (Luke 23:34).

The vastness of Christ’s love was enough for the salvation of the world.

Then for a moment, Christ was overwhelmed by the enormity of the sin that he bore. The despairing thought came into his mind that it would surely be too much for the Father to forgive the world, and that his sacrifice would be rejected. And so, he cried out in despair,

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (Matt 27:46).

But, like Moses’ prayer in the desert, Christ’s prayer on the cross was also unfinished. Christ never answered the question in his prayer. Instead, like Moses, he did all that he could, and with a broken heart, he offered himself:

Father, into your hands I commit my spirit (Luke 23:46).

And the vastness of his love was enough for the salvation of the world.

I dare not ask you if you pray like Jesus. But at least, let me ask you, when you pray, do you pray like Moses? Or are your prayers all about you and your complaints and wants?

In your prayers, do you put others first? Even more than that, do your prayers truly come from a heart of sacrificial love?

Article supplied with thanks to Dr Eliezer Gonzalez.

Feature image: Canva

About the Author: Dr Eli Gonzalez is the Senior Pastor of Good News Unlimited and the presenter of the Unlimited radio spots, and The Big Question.

Have you heard about Joshua and Jesus?

Even if you don’t go to church regularly now, you might perhaps remember the story of Joshua and Jericho from when you were a child. It’s a rollicking good story, with the people of God facing an impossible situation, and God coming to their help in a really dramatic way!

But what you might not have realised is that the story isn’t really about the city of Jericho or about Joshua – at least not the Joshua in the Old Testament.

You see, the well-known name “Jesus” is the same as the Hebrew name “Joshua.” Both versions of this name are just the English versions of the original names in Greek and Hebrew. The name “Jesus” is the Greek version of the Hebrew name “Joshua.” You might not have realised that Jesus is in the Old Testament, but he is!

In fact, the name Jesus means, “Jehovah is salvation.” As the angel said to Mary,

“you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matt 1:21.)

In the Old Testament, Joshua also saved his people, not from their sins, but from their enemies, the Canaanites. The key act through which Joshua saved his people was by bringing them into the Promised Land and conquering the city of Jericho to do so.

The Story of Joshua is Actually the Story of Jesus

We also have a promised land to look forward to:

But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells (2 Pet 3:13.)

We also have strongholds of evil to conquer before we get there:

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds (2 Cor 3:5).

The one who goes before us and leads us is the true Joshua, who,

having disarmed the powers and authorities… made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross (Col 2:15.)

Something that you might not know, and which is very significant, is that Joshua’s crossing of the Jordan to begin his conquest of the Promised Land, and the baptism of Jesus to begin his ministry, occurred at the same spot. This was on the Jordan River, just opposite Jericho.

Today this place is known as Qasr el Yahud. There are many places claimed to be the baptismal site of Jesus in Israel and Jordan, however many of them have been designated as such for touristic or political reasons. However, the oldest and most traditional site for the baptism of Jesus is Qasr el Yahud, about 3.3 km east of Highway 90, opposite Jericho.

Jesus is Still Demolishing Walls Today

It was here, right where the first Joshua crossed over to conquer the promised land for God’s children, that the second Joshua also crossed over to conquer eternity for us all. The baptism marks the point in time when Jesus left behind his “ordinary” life as a carpenter in Nazareth and commenced his ministry.

Jesus, the one in whom God dwelt fully, went before the people to conquer the land for them. In the same way, in the time of Joshua, the priests carried the ark, where the presence of God dwelt, across the river, before the people. When Joshua had crossed the Jordan, God honoured him before the people, and Joshua appointed twelve men to lay down an altar of twelve stones as a memorial of what God had done. In the same way, after Jesus had crossed the Jordan and commenced his ministry, he selected twelve men who would become foundation stones in his living temple (Eph. 2:20.).

Just as the first Joshua brought down the walls of Jericho, the second Joshua brought down the strongholds of death and sin, and vanquished them completely. You can read in Joshua 6:20 how the walls of Jericho came down when the people gave a “loud shout,” and Matt. 27:50 tells us that Jesus died, with a “loud cry”. It was that cry that announced our victory.

It is amazing to see how these two crossings of the Jordan River, approximately 1,500 years apart, mirror each other so clearly. That’s because the first Joshua pointed to the second Joshua (Jesus.) It illustrates how, in the end, just as Jesus said, the whole of the Bible points to him.

The good news is that Jesus is still demolishing the walls of pain and the barriers that divide in the lives of people today. He can do that for you too!

Article supplied with thanks to Dr Eliezer Gonzalez.

About the Author: Dr Eli Gonzalez is the Senior Pastor of Good News Unlimited and the presenter of the Unlimited radio spots, and The Big Question. Sign up to his free online course called Becoming a Follower of Jesus to learn about Jesus and His message.

Feature image: Photo by Vaishakh pillai on Unsplash 

In the 10,000m men’s finals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, unforgettable and dramatic scenes marked the end of the race.

Australian Patrick Tiernan had kept up with the favourites for almost the entirety of the 27-minute race, but just 50 metres away from the finish line, he dramatically collapsed.

TV commentator Bruce McAvaney said at the time, “You can see Pat, he is absolutely done and dusted. He is running on heart only here… He has absolutely collapsed with 50m to go. He picks himself up. He is staggering here.”

Tiernan crossed the line based on courage and determination alone. And incredibly, despite his collapse, Tiernan recorded his best time for that track and field season. He was so exhausted that he needed a wheelchair to get off the track.

Ethiopian Selemon Barega claimed gold that day, but Tiernan’s run will not be forgotten. He was determined to go all the way.

The Bible Likens our Lives to a Race

There are often many things in life that we start but we don’t finish. Depending on what kind of a person you are, you may be a better “finisher” than others. Some people may not be as organised as they need to be, or they may be more easily discouraged from pursuing a goal. But if there is one thing above all that we should make sure we finish well, that is our life of faith upon this earth.

The Bible likens our lives to a race. The reason is because it requires preparation and discipline, it takes effort, and because there is a prize at the end. I really didn’t used to like this idea of my life as a race, because on the one hand, I was never much good at athletics, and on the other hand, because it made it seem as if there were winners and losers. The winners were the ones who lived the best and holiest lives, and those who didn’t quite make the mark were the losers.

It is God Who Ensures we Stay on Track and Cross the Finish Line

Now I know that both of my concerns were unfounded. Firstly, even though I might not be any good at physical athletics, I can still love Jesus, and that’s all it takes to win. And secondly, I have also learnt that this is a race in which everyone can be a winner. Even if you are the weakest, most elderly, or the poorest person in this world, you can win the race of faith. Unlike earthly athletes, you don’t have to be fast and you don’t need to be strong. As the Bible says,

The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong… (Eccl. 9:11).

What, then, do you need to run the race of life? God says to us:

‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty (Zech. 4:6).

It is the Spirit of God who ensures that we stay on track in life and that we cross the finish line.

How is it that everyone can win? It’s because the important thing isn’t to reach the goal first, but to be on track. That’s why the apostle Paul wrote,

I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:14).

The Goal is Eternity

The most important thing isn’t to reach the goal, but to always be pursuing it. If you are running towards the goal, you will always reach it. Why? Because the goal is eternity.

Although we don’t like to talk about dying, death means the end of our time in this life. It represents the finish line of the race of faith. In the life to come, there will be no sin, no suffering, and no pain. Paul knew that his time on earth was coming to an end. As he faced his own death, he wrote:

I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing (2 Tim. 4:7–8).

Because of Jesus, if you trust in him, you can say the same thing as Paul did. That can be true for you at whatever stage of life you may be in. The reality is that Jesus ran the race for you and won the prize of eternal life for you, and now he simply offers to credit it to your account if you will accept it. Whatever race we run in this life is simply a reflection of what he has already done and won. That’s why all those who have accepted Jesus as their Saviour are always “more than conquerors through him who loved us” Rom. 8:37.

Article supplied with thanks to Dr Eliezer Gonzalez.

About the Author: Dr Eli Gonzalez is the Senior Pastor of Good News Unlimited and the presenter of the Unlimited radio spots, and The Big Question. Sign up to his free online course called Becoming a Follower of Jesus to learn about Jesus and His message.

Feature image: Photo by sporlab on Unsplash